by Mike Favila, Editor

I’m Grumpy and I’m Sunny come from Jennifer and Matthew Holm, the sibling creative team behind the highly acclaimed Babymouse.  Though I’ve never read Babymouse before, I can only imagine it’s quite good after going through these little samplers.

Random House has come out with a new set of board books aimed towards toddlers and emerging readers.  As a pair, I’m Grumpy and complement book I’m Sunny are very cute and funny.  There’s a slight spin here with the idea of introducing younger readers to the language of comics.  This development is pretty amazing, if you take into context the history and reputation of comics in America.

While cartooning and comics started around the same time in America as in Asia,  Japan took their lack of resources post World War II and created manga and anime.  Meanwhile, comics here were relegated to children’s fare, only meant as a stepping stone towards “real” books, and not meant to be taken seriously.  I grew up reading superhero comics from my uncles, but I’ve never thought about them as anything other than another form of reading and lit.  That hasn’t always been the case with the general public here.

While these books are certainly geared towards the younger set, the intention also includes introducing the culture of comics as a distinct and separate art.  Though the argument could be made that all board books have a tendency to look like comics (words/pictures combos), I could see how the Holm siblings have set up the book to introduce the language of comics.

Intellectual dissection aside, both books are very entertaining.  My children loved them and liked making the sound effects and mimicking the facial features and emotions.  Most of the pages would be considered ‘splash pages’, but there are enough sequential panels to consider them comics. I would definitely recommend I’m Grumpy and I’m Sunny as a great collection to your children’s library.